July 3, 2002 keralamonitor.com Toy Trains of Nilagiri Hills Railway, an attractive tourist attraction Jaya M. The fantasy of childhood to venture into a thick and dense forest for the sake of thrill comes true with the Nilgiris Mountain Railway (NMR), the "toy train" of the tourists. It takes people from Mettupalayam in the foothills of the beautiful Nilgiris Mountain to the queen of hill stations, Ooty, atop the mountain by traversing a distance of 45.88 km in around 5 hours. One tends to get bored at the journey’s snail’s pace , but the travellers of the NMR like it to be a bit more slow so as to fully enjoy the scenic beauty along the journey that negotiates 208 challenging curves, penetrates into 16 long and eerie tunnels and crosses 250 bridges over deep ravines and gushing mountain streams, moving up and down the hills.
The marvellous features of this 103 years old railway that brings people up 7,500 ft above mean sea level to the junction of the Eastern and the Western Ghats have motivated the Ministry of Railways to get the world heritage status for it from UNESCO. It has the distinction of having the only rack and pinion system of rail tracks in entire Asia. It prevents the ‘toy train’ from slipping down while moving up against the downward pull of the gravitational force. It may amuse the tourists to notice a railman in each of the wagons and coaches of the NMR independently operating hand brakes and rack brakes by following the whistle codes of the driver of the train. Travellers compare the NMR to the Alps Mountain Railway system in Switzerland.
The train journey makes one feel in a mini world with travellers speaking many languages both Indian and foreign. Once it starts moving, popular movie songs of different linguistic origin are heard from different quarters. In the plains, it runs past arecanut plantations where one can see harvesters swinging from one tree to the other. The major fauna in the region includes monkeys who follow the dictum, "wandering one gathers honey."
The first stop after Mettupalayam for the train is Kallar from where the mountain range starts. In Kallar, the distinct passage of the plains gives way to mountainous features with dry deciduous forests. Broad-leaved trees are the trade mark of this region upto an area near Ketty. It is about 5,900 ft above mean sea level from where the transition imperceptibly occurs in favour of moist evergreen forests. On the other side of Kallar lies a State-run horticultural farm and a nursery, producing various kinds of fruits and vegetables along with plantation crops, spices and condiments.
Temperature falls gradually as the level of the terrain rises. The high-pitched voices of the youngsters while passing into long and dark tunnels get mellowed down to pin drop silence when the train crosses bridges over deep ravines and gorges. Gushing wild waters beneath the bridges make rhythmic sound waves giving a pleasant treat to the ears and eyes. In the Nilgiris, rains frequent the ranges even during the summer keeping the flow of water constant almost the whole year. When the South West Monsoon lavishes the terrain with torrential rains from June through September, and also during October and November when inter-monsoon brings significant rainfall, many seasonal waterfalls also tempt the travelers.
As the train approaches Ketty, tea plantations with their soothing green cover appear beneath the blue haze formed by the mist. The area appears as a conglomeration of different successive towers wearing greenish caps. It is here in Ketty where John Sullivan, the then District Collector of Coimbatore, is said to have experimented with tea from 1835 to 1840. An optimal distribution of rain enables the enterprising farmers of the district to produce tea throughout the year. Ketty is also dotted with educational institutions and human settlements with housing structures unique to mountainous parts.
After another half-an-hour journey, the famous shola system of forests, that is a combination of shrubs and herbs and low-lying plants along with taller trees creep in. It is a cool, dark temperate zone. It lies between 5,900 ft and 6,600 ft. Coonoor, a major station in this stretch, is located here. Nearby Coonoor are the well renowned Defence Services Staff College and the headquarters of the Madras Regimental Centre, Wellington. A little way up, the savanna type grasslands begin where carrot, beans, cabbage, beet root and similar other varieties of vegetables are cultivated. The Nilgiris is one of the select few districts that meet the needs of these vegetables in Tamilnadu. The final destination of the train is Ooty. The train reaches Ooty at 12.20 pm.
Ups and downs are not confined to the tracks alone for the train. The trail of its history is also marked by several flips and flops. Its history is traced back to 1854 when various technological proposals were proposed. Some of them fell through for technical flaws and those who boasted of technical excellence failed to enthuse economically. In 1862, the Madras Railway Company opened a rail link from Madras, now Chennai, to Beypore, which later came to be known as Calicut, now called Kozhikodu, via Coimbatore. The proximity of Coimbatore to the Nilgiris made possible a rail link to the hill station. Completion of the laying of a rail link between Podanur near Coimbatore and Mettupalayam gave further momentum for the planners to moot the proposal for the rail project for the hill top. N. Riggenbach, the inventor of the famous Rigi system of mountain railways came forward with his proposal of using rack rail system at an estimated cost of 1,32,000 pounds. This again got rejected for economic reasons. But the unrelenting Riggenbach came to the Nilgiris in person and formed a local company for translating his vision of laying the line into a reality but eventually he ran out of steam and gave up. Finally, in 1885 an entrepreneur called Mr Richard Wooley established The Nilgiri Railway Company (NMR) with an investment of Rs 25 lakh. After the signing of a contract between the nascent company and the then Secretary of State for India in 1886, the eventful first sod of the line was cut in August 1891 by Lord Wenlock the then Governor of Madras Presidency. The company encountered many hurdles in carrying out the difficult task of laying the rail line on the rugged and forbidding terrain and finally it went into liquidation in 1894 when the task was half way through.
In February 1886, another company purchased the interests of the Nilgiri Railway Company and began the work. The Sappers and Miners of the Madras Army, lent their helping hands in the earthwork for the construction of the line. Finally the green flag was waved for public utilisation of the NMR from Mettupalayam to Coonoor on June 15, 1899 by the Madras Railway Company. From Coonoor, the line got extended up to Ooty by 1908. The train is currently being run by steam engine up to Coonoor from Mettupalayam and trial runs are now on for replacing the coal guzzler by a diesel engine. The NMR is already being hauled by a diesel engine from Coonoor to Ooty.
The train leaves Mettupalayam everyday at 07.10 am and reaches Ooty by 12.00 noon. It returns from Ooty at 03.00 pm and reaches Mettupalayam by 06.35 pm. To reach Mettupalayam, one can board the Nilgiri Express from Chennai.--(press i bureau) keralamonitor.com
